Monday, September 26, 2005

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Last night, Dan and I were listening to Focus on the Family, and Dr. J. Dobson had two guests on his show speaking about the current legislations in the U.S. courts (Sept. 19/05). I encourage you to listen online if possible on Family.org, or to click on the following links.

Dr. Dobson said he is no longer allowed to broadcast programs in Canada that deal with homosexuality, since he would be sued/penalized under Canada's "Hate Crime" legislation. Wow. I had no idea this was true. At this time, there are several pastors in Canada that are dealing with legal repercussions due to speaking out against the homosexual community. As you now know, gay marriage is legal in Canada and the decision was based on the hate crime legislation.

Dobson warned that there is current legislation being passed in the U.S. courts that follows Canada's actions. The "Hate Crime" initiative is covered under a 'racist' lid but is intended to prohibit the speaking out against the gay community. The evening news is not going to warn Americans of these legal battles so we need to be proactive and keep informed ourselves and write/call our senators and statemen. Family.org has online newsletters that you can receive to be kept abreast of the laws/legal fights, and ways you can support the fights.

***To those in California, Family.org has a link to Schwarzenegger's e-mail address/phone/fax so that you can let him know you want him to veto the current gay marriage bill. You can use the following link: CitizenLink - Extras - Urge Schwarzenegger to Veto Gay-Marriage Bill http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0037876.cfm ***

I'm not sure how much this blog will help, but at least I hope it makes us all more aware and willing to stand up for what we believe in before it is too late. Abortion is legal and it probably will always be but we still have a chance to stand against 'gay marriage'.

Friday, September 16, 2005

I know neither the American nor the Canadian judicial system is flawless but there is something to be said about the American system... can you imagine only having one man's decision to appoint a judge for life? With a weakling like Paul Martin in power there is no hope for Canadian government. He didn't even stand up against gay marriage.

***(Friday, Sept. 16/o5) "For weeks now, every word that Judge Roberts ever wrote, every memo, judgment and legal opinion was dissected by pundits and lobby groups. And now the unflappable judge is facing cross-examination by legislators on a range of issues that run the gamut from Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers to abortion, the death penalty, civil rights, the right to die and whether Congress could vote to end the war in Iraq, given the President's constitutional role as commander in chief.

As a Canadian, one can only watch this drama unfold in wonderment, frustration and the stark embarrassment of how we appoint our Supreme Court justices north of the border. In place of all this scrutiny, we ultimately get our judges at the sole discretion of Paul Martin -- the same prime minister who continues to flout his anti-cronyism commitment by appointing friends and associates to our flabby, pointless Senate -- with virtually no input or meaningful consultation."

Thursday, September 15, 2005

***Although this passage is lengthy, please take the time to read it. It is copied from 'Time.com' online issue Sept. 12/05. The more detailed version is on Time's website. Should the United States support the upcoming Olympics in China? Should we continually increase our trade practices with them? Or are we just as bad, killing 1000 unborn babies every day in the United States?***

The men with the poison-filled syringe arrived two days before Li Juan's due date. They pinned her down on a bed in a local clinic, she says, and drove the needle into her abdomen until it entered the 9-month-old fetus. "At first, I could feel my child kicking a lot," says the 23-year-old. "Then, after a while, I couldn't feel her moving anymore." Ten hours later, Li delivered the girl she had intended to name Shuang (Bright). The baby was dead. To be absolutely sure, says Li, the officials--from the Linyi region, where she lives, in China's eastern Shandong province--dunked the infant's body for several minutes in a bucket of water beside the bed. All she could think about on that day last spring, recalls Li, was how she would hire a gang of thugs to take revenge on the people who killed her baby because the birth, they said, would have violated China's family-planning scheme.

Since 1980, when China began fully carrying out what is commonly known as the one-child policy, officials in the provinces have often resorted to draconian measures--forced sterilizations and late-term abortions among them--to prevent the country's population of 1.3 billion from expanding into a Malthusian nightmare...

The Communist Party bureaucracy, however, doesn't seem to have caught up with the new law. Despite laxer regulation, the career advancement of local leaders, especially in rural areas, still often depends on keeping birthrates low. "One set of bad population figures can stop an official from getting promoted," says Tu Bisheng, a Beijing legal activist who has helped document abuses related to the one-child policy.

At a provincial meeting last year, Linyi officials were castigated for having the highest rate of extra births in all of Shandong, according to lawyers familiar with the situation. The dressing-down galvanized what appears to be one of the most brutal mass sterilization and abortion campaigns in years. Starting in March, family-planning officials in Linyi's nine counties and three districts trawled villages, looking to force women pregnant with illegal children to abort, and to sterilize those who already had the maximum allotment of children under the local family-planning policy. According to that regulation, which exists in a similar form in most rural areas, women with a son are not allowed to bear more children, whereas mothers whose first child is handicapped or a girl are allowed to have a second baby.

Many women refused to undergo the procedures. Others hid, often in family members' homes. The crackdown intensified. Relatives of women who resisted sterilization or abortion were detained and forced to pay for "study sessions" in which they had to admit their "wrong thinking," says Teng Biao, an instructor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, who visited Linyi last month to investigate the coercive campaign. In the Linyi county of Yinan alone, at least 7,000 people were forced to undergo sterilization between March and July, according to lawyers who spoke with local family-planning officials. Several villagers, the lawyers allege, were beaten to death while under detention for trying to help family members avoid sterilization.

Officials in Linyi deny that anything improper has happened. "All these things are either exaggerated, distorted or not based on facts," says an official surnamed Yao (he wouldn't give his full name) at the Linyi municipal family-planning commission...

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Our friends, Kate and Jake Wadsley, with baby daughter Dana (6 months old). They were stationed in San Diego when we were there (Jake was also on the Helena). They are now stationed in Italy and have fully taken advantage of the location! Great Christian couple.

We drove from our cabin to Niagra Falls (7 hrs! but worth the trip with such a great friend) on Tuesday. It rained due to the residual moisture of Katrina but it didn't dampen our spirits. From left to right, American Falls, Bridal Falls (USA), and Horseshoe Falls (CANADA).

After visiting the Falls, we drove north 10 miles to Fort Niagra. It was originally built by the French in the late 1700's but won by the British. The fort was lost to the Americans in the late 1800's. The fort the stratigic in that it guarded the entrance to the Niagra river from Lake Ontario.

Ellis Island: where over 1.5 million people entered the United States over a period of 75 years. The building was restored in the early 80's as a historically significant place. This room processed 5000 people/day at the height of immigration (the early 1900's).

Last night (Saturday, Sept. 3), my friend April and I were in the Denver airport returning from our trip to NYC/state (pics to come). It was late and the terminal was quiet with exception to the plane which had recently arrived. Most passengers had disembarked when a group of 12-14 people came by and stood near us. Their clothes were clean but mismatched and their 'accent' was so thick it hardly resembled the English language. Yes, these were the lucky ones, the survivors, of Katrina. The teen boys had sunburnt shoulders and one woman clung to her husband for comfort. The airline service representative led the group since none had even been on a plane before and most looked confused. Another man from an unknown goodwill agency assisted him.

It wasn't the language and clothes so much that attracted our attention... it was the attitutudes of the citizens. One attitude was hardened, the other was grateful. Two women complained that they had lost their TV and radio to the storm... another couple just clung to each other, glad that their spouse was still alive. Some of the people seemed to be almost offended at the offered help, the rest of the people just accepted it with open hands. Everyone held tightly their 1L bottles of water.

I just wanted to share with you what April and I saw... there may be stories of looting and shooting and confusion but amongst the stories that make the headlines, there are stories of welcomed relief and gratitude and hope for the future.

About our family

One Canadian girl and one American boy who met and married in 2002. We lived in San Diego until November 2004 and then moved to the SF Bay area. Blessed with a son in January 2006. After many miscarriages and early losses, we were gifted with a baby girl in October 2009. Little Brother joined us in January 2012. Thanking God for our miracles!